Shoe for pneumatic wheels.



J.- W. COMER.'

SHOE FOR PNEUMATIC WHEELS. APPLICATION FILED SEPT-'12. 1913.

1,148,57. Patented Aug. 3, 1915.

WITNESSES INl/Ell/TUR I Jaim WGamer QMA ATTORNEYS JOHN VI. COMER, OFGEIGXASHA, OKLAHGMEL SHOE FOR PNEUMATIC "WHEELE.

Application filed September 12, 1913.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN W. Conan, a citizen of the United States, and aresident of Chickasha, in the county of Grady and Stateof Oklahoma,havemade certain new and useful Improvements in Shoes for PneumaticWheels, of'which the following is a specification.

My invention is an improvement in the class of protecting shoes forpneumatic tires of automobiles, and similar vehicles, and the inventionis embodied in the construction, arrangement, and combination of partshereinafter described.

Reference is made to the accompanying drawing forming a part of thisspecifica= tion, and in which like letters indicate like parts,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a wheel equipped with my improved shoe,and with a pneumatic tire associated with the shoe. Fig. 2 is a sectionon the line 2--2 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrow. Fig.3 is a section on the line 33 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of thearrow. F ig. 4: is a detail showing in perspective one of the lockingwedges used for forming a part of the shoe.

A wheel hub is shown at 5, spokes at 6 and a telly at 7, this fellycarrying a rim 8. Connected with the rim 8 is a tire 9 of resilientmaterial, which in this instance is an ordinary pneumatic tire.

The external tread or peripheral band of the shoe is shown at 10 and issecured to a ring 11. Concentric to this ring and located within thesame is another ring 12. Bolts 11 extend between these rings and areseverally provided with heads 1 and with threaded portions 15. Thesebolts extend through locking wedges 16 of the form shown in Fig. 4, twosuch locking wedges being employed for each bolt, and each having a hole16 to accommodate the bolt. Each bolt 13 is fitted with a revoluble nut17, as indicated in Fig. 3. When the parts are in position turning thenut 17 forces the two wedges 16, located at opposite ends of the bolt,toward eachoother so as to force rings 11-42 slightly apart, as may beunderstood from Fig. 3. A number of substantially L-shaped bars 18 aresecured to the ring 12 2y bolts 19, as indicated in Fig. 2, and theirouter ends are bent substantially parallel with each other so as toextend part Way across the ring 12. The

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented An 8, 19415.

Eerial n0. vaaasr.

bolts 19 are provided with nuts which extend into the annular spacebetween the rings 11 and 12. Two guide rings 21 are connected with theinner ends of the l.- shaped bars 18 by bolts 22, the latter beingfitted with nuts 23 and thus tightened so as to hold the guide rings 21in pbsition. The guide rings are spaced suiiciently far apart to clearthe adjacent surfaces of the pneumatic tire. In other words, thedistance from one of the guide rings 21 to the other is a little greaterthan the maximum diameter of the pneumatic tire, so that the tire has alittle play, in a direction lateral to the plane of rotation of thetire. The parts are so proportioned that the internal diameter of thering 12 is somewhat greater than the maximum general diameter of thepneumatic tire so that the pneumatic tire as a whole, together with thespokes and hub,

has a litle play relatively to the ring 1E2,v

as may be understood from Fig. 1. When the bolts 13 are placed inposition the in nor ring 12 is centered relatively to the ring 11 byadjusting the nuts 17, so as to force the locking wedges 16 intoposition. In this waythe radial thickness of the entire shoe, consistingprincipally of the rings 1112 and the tread 10, can be renderedsubstantially uniform throughout the entire circumference of the wheel.

The operation of my device is as follows :-The parts being assembled andarranged as indicated, the wheel is placed upon a vehicleand in ageneral way used after the manner of other vehicle wheels restinguponthe ground. As the wheel rotates in rolling along upon the ground, the tre 9 rolls upon the inner surface of the ring 12 or in other words,rolls upon the inner bottom surface of the annular shoe, as a whole.Owing to the resiliency of the tire 9 and the fact that the tire hasplay in two directions relatively to the shoe, the wheel possessesconsiderable resiliency and is adaptable for many purposes. The tirecannot be punctured as it is protected by the annular shoe, yet the tirehas all of the resilience it would have if the shoe were omitted.Again,,the tire, by virtual rolling upon the inner surface of the shoeand in consequence of the resilience of the shoe, is controlled in muchthe same manner as if the shoe were a rail continuously laid down infront of the tire and continuously taken up at the rear thereof.

the rings so as to center the inner ring relatively to the outer ringand "for hold- 15 ing the rings together, a tread on the outer ring, aset of bars extending inwardly and parallel from eachside of the innerring, said bars being secured to the ou er face of the said innerring,-and a narrow rin se- 20 cured to the free ends of each set of ars.

JOHN W. COMER.

Witnesses:

F. C. HALL, 'H. P. ELLIS.

